About Redline

Redline is about developing an alternative vision to capitalism. We recognise there is no possibility of building a Marxist working class party in the current conditions in New Zealand of low horizons and little fightback. We aim to use the tools of Marxism to provide analysis of what is going on and, where possible, give a positive lead.

We welcome comments on all our articles but if you want to make direct contact with us at Redline, you can email us at redlinemarxists@gmail.com

Blog editorial collective

Imperialism study group

This study group, which is being initiated by some of the people involved in Redline, is primarily concerned with imperialism in the 21st century, but will begin with the first great Marxist work on the subject.

We will be focusing on studying and discussing three books:
V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism
Tony Norfield, The City: London and the global power of finance
John Smith, Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis
You will need copies of these books – or, at least, access to them – to take part in the study group. For further info on the study group, email: redlinemarxists@gmail.com

Spread the word

If you like any article please help promote it (and the blog). Link to it on facebook and other social media, write about it anywhere or re-blog it.

We’re very happy to have other people re-blog our material, all we ask is that you mention the original source and put in a link to where it originally appeared on our site.

So the more people who spread the word about the blog, advertise and/or re-blog stuff the better.

Blog étiquette

We encourage discussion and debate but, unless there is a good personal security reason, people need to use their names or, at the very least, identify themselves to us. Anyone unhappy about that can always set up their own blog - it's free and easy to do.

Greetings to RSP

Last weekend the Australian Revolutionary Socialist Party helds its third congress. The following greetings were presented from the Redline collective:

Greetings to the RSP congress from the comrades of the Redline blog in New Zealand.

Today Marxists confront a new set of problems thrown up by the particularly hard objective conditions we confront in this part of the world. On the one hand, capitalism is clearly exhausted as an economic system; on the other hand, workers’ class consciousness and struggle has possibly never been weaker.

In the absence of an engaged working class, it is simply not possible to build a revolutionary workers’ party. In this situation sections of the far left have simply chosen to accept low standards of behaviour and to shift rightwards politically in order to feel part of something bigger. Lip service is paid to Marxism, while in practice it is discarded. Tactically militant forms of activity are accompanied by Keynesian and nationalist economics, bandwagon-jumping and attempts to ‘talk up’ the level of protest in what have become surreal ways.

We have chosen a different path. Recognising the unique combination of the bankruptcy of capitalism and the absence of the working class from its own struggle for emancipation, we have reaffirmed the necessity of Marxist analysis and politics. We attempt to develop these through our blog and engaging in class and other political struggles wherever we can, but with a very realistic perspective on what can be achieved in terms of building a revolutionary alternative right now.

In Australia, things appear to be slightly better and the far left rather stronger. We note, for instance, that you have entered into unity talks with Socialist Alternative on a principled basis and we wish you well with these. A merger between two organisations operating on the basis of Marxism is always to be welcomed.